Standing Committees
The Sleep Research Society invites members to participate in a standing committee. Volunteer committee members provide an invaluable service to the organization and to members by contributing to initiatives and projects that are critical to the field of sleep and circadian research. Members also gain professional enrichment through the diverse activities of a committee.
Volunteering on a Committee
Members can share their professional expertise and volunteer for an SRS standing committee. Volunteers must be able to participate in committee conference calls as frequently as once per month. While we accept volunteer submissions all year long, committee members are placed on the respective committee in April of each year for the upcoming three-year term, which begins in June each year.
To volunteer, please complete the following online form and submit your CV summary, no longer than two pages, or an NIH Biosketch to coordinator@srsnet.org or by mail to 2510 North Frontage Road, Darien, IL 60561.
Active Committees
Mandate
The Communications Committee shall determine optimal communication strategies and tools, facilitate media outreach, and give members a greater sense of ownership in the Society. The Committee will implement novel strategies to engage the non-member sleep research community.
Activities
- Study and recommend long-range plan of communication goals and activities to meet these goals.
- Review Society communication tools for accuracy and timeliness.
- Review and recommend updates to the website.
- Research and recommend media outreach tools for greatest effectiveness.
- Recommend research findings to be published in scientific journals.
- Research and implement methods to engage non-members, scientists, and public.
- Research and recommend which SRS constituents receive message via which communication tool (e.g., emails, various social media platforms) and which constituents contribute/communicate via social media.
Charge
The Conflict of Interest Committee’s mandate is to assist the Board of Directors with the annual review of the SRS’s conflict of interest policies and implementation of the conflict of interest policy. The committee serves as a panel to review potential conflicts of interest and make final determinations about resolution of potential conflicts. All determinations of the committee will be considered final and do not require approval from the Board of Directors.
The committee shall consist of three members. The Secretary/Treasurer will serve as Chair of the COI Committee. The other two members will be the Immediate Past President and a member-at-large as elected by the SRS membership for a two-year term.
Mandate
The goal of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee is to broaden the perspectives and impact of sleep and circadian science. To that end, the committee will assess the SRS membership and leadership, and recommend strategies to improve diversity, equity and inclusion within the SRS’s leadership and membership. The Committee will identify barriers that may deter sleep/circadian researchers from underrepresented groups from becoming and remaining SRS members and continuing to contribute to the field in an academic or research environment of inclusive excellence. The committee will develop and implement initiatives to improve our recruitment and retention of members who would contribute to diversity, equity, and inclusivity in the sleep and circadian science field.
Activities
- Study the makeup of the membership and leadership in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Evaluate existing programs/activities of the SRS in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Recommend improvements to existing programs/activities to improve diversity, equity and inclusivity of participants.
- Recommend programs/activities to improve the diversity, equity and inclusivity of the membership.
- Analyze and track the diversity, equity and inclusivity of award/grant recipients.
- Identify issues, if any, contributing to an unequitable distribution of awards/grants.
- Identify initiatives to enhance the prospects of success of underrepresented groups in sleep and circadian science.
- Identify barriers that may deter underrepresented groups from becoming and remaining SRS members and becoming SRS leaders.
- Recommend improvements to outreach efforts to include a diverse audience.
Mandate
The Membership Committee will determine benefits the SRS provide, to allow maximum membership values all the while increasing membership revenue. The Committee will find methods to recognize Members’ contributions and excellence while implementing novel strategies to engage the member and non-member sleep research community.
Activities
- Study and recommend long-range plan of membership goals and activities to meet these goals.
- Review and recommend membership qualifications and guidelines.
- Develop list of membership prospects with assignments for personal contacts to be made by Committee members, association members, and staff.
- Evaluate and recommend programs to retain current membership base.
- Work to identify programming needs of interest to the membership that may be hosted by other relevant committees or the committee itself.
- Periodically review and make recommendations regarding dues structure.
- Study and make recommendations regarding ways to increase international participation and membership.
Mandate
The Pipeline Development Committee will work to increase/facilitate retention of early career SRS members (i.e., graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, assistant professors) within the sleep and circadian research pipeline, target career development opportunities at appropriate levels, develop objective metrics to evaluate the career development opportunities spearheaded by the PDC, develop cross lab training opportunities–including global opportunities, facilitate Jr/Sr networking and mentoring and develop tools to enhance member success of grant/funding applications.
Activities:
- Implement Mentor-Mentee programs that create the greatest value for all levels of members, including training opportunities related to grant review and writing.
- Review nominations for awards designed to recognize early career investigators (e.g. SRSF small research grants awards, Rising Star Awards).
- Promote opportunities for networking, educational webinars (e.g. Virtual Seminar Series to allow early career researchers to present their work to a group of peers).
- Consider submitting post graduate course(s) to the annual SLEEP meeting that have topics important to SRS members.
- Work with Communications, TEAC and Membership committees to make SRS website more trainee friendly.
TEAC Vice-Chair is a member of the committee.
Mandate
The Scientific Review Committee will make recommendations to the Board of Directors regarding the Society’s award programs; oversee the full award process, from implementation to evaluation of the Early-Stage Investigators Award Program, including the scoring of applications to the Society’s award programs. This committee abides by current NIH COI recommendations in all review matters.
Activities
- Recommend recipients for the Career Development Award.
- Recommend recipient(s) for the Outstanding Early Investigator Award.
- Develop process to evaluate applicants for grants and awards and make recommendation to Board regarding recipients.
- Write RFP and application materials for Sleep Research Society Foundation awards or other funding opportunities.
- Review and score Sleep Research Society Foundation awards and other funding opportunity applications.
- Evaluate success of funding programs.
- The Scientific Review Committee shall review and recommend to the Board guidelines and criteria for the Outstanding Early Investigator Award. The Committee shall make a recommendation to the Board regarding the recipient(s) of this honor.
- The Scientific Review Committee shall review and recommend to the Board guidelines and criteria for the Career Development Award. The Committee shall make a recommendation to the Board regarding the recipient(s) of this award.
Mandate
The Trainee Education Advisory Committee (TEAC) implements career development activities at the annual SLEEP meeting. SLEEP is the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC (APSS), a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the Sleep Research Society (SRS).
Activities
- Develop trainee activities in conjunction with the APSS annual meeting.
- Recommend/develop trainee educational activities independent of APSS annual meeting.
- Provide guidance and support to Trainee Member-at-Large.
- Recommend a Trainee Member-at-Large to the Board.
- TEAC shall annually recommend to the Secretary/Treasurer the budget for trainee related activities.
- Based on approved guidelines, TEAC will evaluate trainee award program applications and make recommendations relating to award recipients.